Skylee’s last regular season meet went exceptionally well. It was her best meet of the year! All year our mantra has been, “It’s not how you start the year, but how you end it,” and Skylee has continued to get better every week. She got first places in both the breaststroke and IM. She beat [...]

“Do you know how big the trophy is for being the fastest in the County at the Championships?’   I asked my eight year old daughter Skylee.  She looked at me and shook her head, her expression consternate. ‘Well I don’t know either but we’re going to find out because you’re going to win it!” I [...]

Incredibly my eight year old daughter Skylee has gone from last year literally thrashing her way across the pool in an effort that was at times painful to watch to now having her sights set on a 27 year old team breast stroke record of 21.05.  Last year when her best friends who were a [...]

This was it.  In 24 hours we would know if my eight year old daughter Skylee would get times to qualify for the All Star meet later this month.  It was her last opportunity.  There was still another meet prior to the All Stars, but those results wouldn’t count toward qualifying so this was her [...]

With Labor Day weekend coming up we are now in the thick of the swimming season.  So far there have been the initial Time Trials and three swimming meets.  Still on tap we’ve got four more regular meets, the County Championships and possibly an All-Star meet before the Championships.  With my two daughters now swimming [...]

After my eight year old Skylee took first place on her team in the breast stroke time trials I told her that it’s not often in your life that you can say to yourself, “I’m the best at what I do”.  I let her know that I was proud of her and that she should [...]

Parents gathered around the pool, bundled up in coats and sweaters to watch their young children at the first swim practice of the season.  It was a cold day at the beginning of March, and there were 15 or so shivering children on one end of the pool awaiting their turns.  One by one they [...]

Last century I worked for the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco as an Assistant Hotel Manager. As part of the Sheraton Hotel management group it was taken over by the larger Starwood Hotel Corporation. I was there for the merger/acquisition, and before removing myself from the company I got a taste of their management [...]

Ten years ago I gave up surfing.  At the time I was only able to get into the water occasionally and I wasn’t paddling well.  I recall being in the water at Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge.  I had a hard time getting into the lineup and jockeying for position.  I was not [...]

Eight year old Skylee had a 102.4 degree fever this morning at about 7:30am when I checked it, shortly after waking up.  She had the fever for the past two days, but this was the highest point.  With all the talk of swine flu and the grim implications I was pretty worried.  At what point [...]